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Manchester United boss discusses club's interest in Alvaro Morata

Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho has revealed that the club could not reach an economic agreement with Real Madrid in order to sign Alvaro Morata this summer.

The Red Devils had tabled a £60m bid for the Spain international, but the offer was deemed to be short of Real Madrid's £78m valuation.

As a result, United turned their attention to Everton's Romelu Lukaku, who was available for a slightly lesser sum of £75m but with the experience of having played in the Premier League over the past six seasons. Morata to United was a regular story in the media prior to the start of the transfer window, and the player had at one stage shortened his honeymoon in order to push through a move to Old Trafford.

However, Real Madrid stood firm on their asking price for the striker, and this eventually pulled the plug on the proposed deal with Ed Woodward looking at Lukaku as a more suitable option owing to his recent success in the English top flight.

Prior to their pre-season friendly against LA Galaxy, Mourinho was posed a question on the Morata story for which, he said: "I don't like to speak about players who aren't ours, because Morata is not our player.
I am nobody to speak about players from Real Madrid. Yes, we have had interest, that is obvious and it's public. We have not come to an economic agreement, which is obvious as well. But it's a Real Madrid's right to ask for their players the amount of money that they want. We do not determine what the price is of a player of Real Madrid, Real Madrid do that. And we didn't arrive at an agreement with Real Madrid."

Despite acquiring minimal playing time, Morata bagged 20 goals across all competitions for Real Madrid, and he is likely to attract further interest before the transfer window comes a close. Cash-rich AC Milan remain a probable option for the Spanish striker with Leonardo Bonucci keen on reuniting with Morata following their stint together at Juventus.